As the US specialist medium Footwear News (FN) reports, retail sales in the United States in March were positive-however, this did not refer to the department stores. They recorded a seasonally adjusted decline of 0.3% compared to February. The entire US retail turnover rose by 1.4% to $ 734.9 billion (646.57 billion euros). From an expert perspective, this has to do with the fact that consumers expect rising prices from the US tariffs. Automobile dealers alone, which lead primarily German or European brands, currently feel significantly more demand: sales of this division rose by 5.3%. The sporting goods trade also increased properly with an increase of 2.4%.
While all retailers reached an increase of 2.8% in the first three months of the year, the sales of the department stores and department stores decreased by 4% during this period.
Shopping destinations such as Macy’s, Kohl’s and Saks have been faced with challenges for a long time. Macy’s will close a total of around 150 locations over a period of three years. The company’s sales decreased by 3.5% to $ 22.3 billion last year. Kohls recorded a decline in sales by 7.2%in the same year.